Protective sport equipment has evolved over the past century, changing with the demands of the sport. Hockey, for example, is a contact sport that exposes players to serious risks, including potentially paralytic or fatal injuries to the cervical spine. Hockey equipment is designed to reduce or disperse impact forces, offering some level of protection to the player. Hockey helmets and face masks became mandatory in an effort to reduce head and facial trauma.
Unfortunately, no equipment exists to effectively protect the player's cervical spine. In fact, it is believed that the present headgear may be exposing players to increased risk of cervical spine injury by creating a false sense of protection, thereby leading to a more aggressive style of play. Hockey helmets are not designed to prevent cervical dislocation or fracture, which can both result in spinal cord injury and possible paralysis or death.
Research shows that the most common and dangerous cervical spine injuries are not caused by flexion or extension but are caused by axial loading of the spine. Axial loading occurs when the top of the head is hit and a direct longitudinal loading of the spine occurs. This usually results when a player is standing three to six feet from the boards and is shoved, sliding into the boards head first with the impact on the crown of the head. The force of this blow is transmitted directly down the spine and can result in compression fractures or burst fractures. If the vertebral body bursts or dislocates into the spinal cord, paralysis may occur.
The March 2000 edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported on the incidence of hockey injuries to the spine in Canada from 1966 to 1996. The information was obtained through surveys to all neurosurgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, and physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists in Canada. In recent years, statistics from sport medicine physicians were also added to the samples as well as information from player insurance reports at the Canadian Hockey Association.
In Canada, 243 spinal injuries were reported between 1966 and 1996. Six players are known to have died from their injuries. Adequate documentation was available to assess the level of injuries for 89% of these cases, 85% being at the cervical spine level. Impact with the boards accounted for 77% of the injuries and 40% were the result of a push or check from behind. Burst fractures and fracture-dislocations were the most frequent injuries recorded. The injured players ranged from 11 to 47 years of age, the mean age being 17 years. Fifty percent of spinal cord injuries occurred in the 16–20 year age group and most occurred during competitive play.
Several attempts have been made in the past to design sport helmets incorporating cervical spine protection. Unfortunately, these prior art helmets did not enjoy a lasting success. In that regard, the following documents represent a good inventory of the protection systems preceding the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,134,106 issued to Archie Shaffer et al. on May 26, 1964, discloses protective equipment for a football player, wherein the helmet is supported to the shoulder pads by means a two vertical stiff blades that are formed integrally with the shoulder pads. The stiff blades are adjustably fastened to the sides of the helmet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,917 issued to Danton F. Sims on Jun. 22, 1965, discloses a combination of a helmet and a protective collar. The collar is contoured so as to fit comfortably on the shoulders of the wearer and has an upper edge portion extending around the neck in substantially uniform spaced relationship with the bottom edge of the helmet. The helmet's bottom edge and the neck collar's upper edge portion are movable into mutual engagement by an elevation of the wearer's shoulders or a movement of the helmet or by the combination of both the collar and the helmet movements, whereby a force applied to the helmet from virtually any direction is transmitted to the collar and from the collar to the player's shoulders without subjecting the neck to excessive strains or impact which could result in injury.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,476 issued to Donald L. Andrews on May 2, 1989, discloses a head, neck and shoulder protection device. The shoulder pad assembly has an annular track thereon in which the helmet is mounted. The helmet is movable along the track and can tilt forward and backward about a pivot axis through a pair of projections on the annular track.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,408 issued to Leonard F. Gaines on Jun. 23, 1992, discloses a helmet and a back brace for protection of the cervical spine. The brace extends along the spine of the player and around the back and the top portion of the helmet. The brace is movably held to the helmet under two support bands affixed to the helmet. On its lower end, the brace is supported on two shoulder straps. The helmet loads are transferred to the shoulders of the player directly, thus transferring excessive head loads onto the chest area of the player where they can be more safely absorbed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,562 issued to Gus A. Rush, III on Feb. 22, 1994, discloses a helmet having an inflatable bag attached to its lower edge. A switch located on the crown of the helmet activate a battery-operated gas generator to inflate the bag and protect the wearer against neck injuries. In another version, the rim of the helmet extends downward upon impact. The rim is actuated by three gas-operated pistons.
Similar sport helmets having props, braces, padding and shock absorbers mounted thereto are described and illustrated in the following documents:    U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,905 issued to Hugo A. Keim on Dec. 13, 1994.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,870 issued to David Pinsen on Aug. 29, 1995.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,736 issued to Norman E. Allison on Feb. 27, 1996.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,699 issued to G. E. Abraham, II on May 21, 1996.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,816 issued to Emsley A. Davis on Dec. 10, 1996.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,541 issued to William M. Landau on Feb. 10, 1998.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,843 issued to James M. Kelly on Aug. 3, 1999.    U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,368 issued to Richard L. Phillips on Dec. 28, 1999.
In another aspect of cervical spine protection systems in sport helmets, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,789 issued to T. Whalen et al. on May 13, 2003, discloses a load absorbing pad that can be mounted inside a helmet to absorb impact forces on the helmet. The load absorbing pad has resilient bags containing a fluid under pressure connected to one or more expandable reservoirs made of elastomeric material connected to the resilient bags. A load applied to the bags forces the fluid from the bag to the reservoir where the energy is dissipated. After the load is removed from the resilient bag, the reservoir returns to its original shape to return the fluid to the resilient bags.
Although the devices and systems of the prior art deserve undeniable merits, it is believed that the additional protection afforded by these devices and systems was obtained in exchange for some reduction in comfort and mobility of the player. It is believed that for that reason, basically, sport helmets incorporating cervical spine protection did not appeal to a majority of players and therefore are still not available commercially. Therefore, it is also believed that a market demand still exists for sport helmets capable of providing cervical spine protection while having minimal effect on the player's agility and skills.